07-25-2016 Council Packet* - Laserfiche WebLink

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CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION July 11, 2016 DRAFT 1 CITY OF LINO LAKES 1 MINUTES 2 3 DATE : July 11, 2016 4 TIME STARTED : 7:45 p.m. 5 TIME ENDED : 9:10 p.m. 6 MEMBERS PRESENT : Councilmember Rafferty, Kusterman, 7 Maher, Manthey and Mayor Reinert 8 MEMBERS ABSENT : None 9 10 11 Staff members present: City Administrator Jeff Karlson; Finance Director Sarah Cotton; 12 Community Development Director Michael Grochala; Public Services Director Rick 13 DeGardner; Public Safety Director John Swenson; City Clerk Julie Bartell 14 15 1. 2017 Draft Budget- Finance Director Cotton reviewed the written staff report 16 outlining the first draft of the 2017 Budget and Tax Levy, as developed by department 17 directors and reviewed by the City Administrator. It is based on resources needed to 18 continue city services at their current levels and also incorporates the priorities and 19 initiatives already identified by the City Council. 20 21 Mayor Reinert remarked that there appears to be a request to raise taxes. He polled the 22 council on their desire to do so. Council Member Maher remarked that it would have to 23 be a very good reason to raise taxes. 24 25 Mayor Reinert also noted that last year there were some obvious additional expenses 26 required and he suspects that would not be as clear this year. His goal is not to raise taxes 27 and accept the higher valuation without changing the tax rate. 28 29 The mayor said that there should be a time to go through money not spent and see if there 30 are funds available that way first. The council discussed the timing – a preliminary 31 budget is due in September that can go down but not up. 32 33 The council called for discussion about equipment replacement. Council Member 34 Rafferty suggested that the council would benefit from a quarterly report on departmental 35 needs in that area. Administrator Karlson confirmed that the council would like to 36 handle that as a regular work session item. The mayor asked what percentage of the 37 budget is related to the Public Safety Department and staff suggested approximately 44 38 percent. He concurs with the concept of having a quarterly discussion about what is and 39 what will be. Director Swenson recommended that the meeting be televised to reach as 40 many people as possible. The mayor recommended that be presented as a summary for 41 the public. 42 43 Council Member Manthey said he wasn’t able to go through the entire packet so he’d 44 appreciate a review. 45